Deadly Homeless Beating in Tokyo

A 55-year-old homeless man was beaten to death in northern Tokyo by a group of boys who pummeled him for more than an hour, police said Saturday.

The man was found in a pool of blood by police late Friday night at a park in the northern Tokyo suburb of Higashimurayama and was pronounced dead after being rushed to a hospital.

Another homeless man who alerted police told them that a group of three to five boys who appeared to be in their teens beat the victim for about 90 minutes, said local police officer Katsuhiro Fujita. Japanese news media reported that the assailants may have been wielding pipes, but Fujita said that the matter was still under investigation.

The dead man was identified as Kunihiko Suzuki. He was one of three men sleeping in the park when he was attacked, police said. No arrests have been made in the case.

In Japan, a country known for the safety of its streets, a recent increase in violent crimes by young people has raised questions about the breakdown of family values.

After a series of high-profile crimes including an incident in which a 17-year-old boy told police he bludgeoned a woman to death with a hammer because he wanted to experience killing somebody, the Japanese government last year lowered the age for which juveniles can be prosecuted as criminals to 14 from 16.